In the consumer products industry individual products are typically placed in packages and then one or more packages are placed in shipping containers, usually made from corrugated paperboard, for delivery to retail establishments such as supermarkets. When a shelf needs to be stocked with additional product, an employee usually brings a shipping container to the shelf, opens it and places the packages on the shelf. In many instances retail establishments prefer shipping containers which can be converted into display trays. The advantages of display trays include being able to place many products on a shelf in one motion and being able to stack several open trays in an aisle for display purposes. Moreover, retailers prefer that the shipping containers be convertible to display trays without having to use a knife or the like so as to better protect the packages and products within and avoid knife damage.
One such shipping container which is convertible to a display tray is known in the art as a tray/shroud container. An example of a prior art tray/shroud container is shown in FIGS. 1 and 2. FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a tray/shroud shipping container 1 comprising a tray 2 and a shroud 3 which is partially disposed within tray 2. Typically when forming these containers the shroud is formed around a number of individual packages 4, shown in FIG. 2. Thereafter, the tray is constructed and the shroud and the packages are placed within the tray. When the goods are ready to be displayed the shroud is removed as shown in FIG. 2 so that the package goods can be displayed within the tray. The shroud can be adhesively secured within the tray, and preferably includes a means to release the shroud without the use of a knife or the like.
While the above-mentioned container is simple and easy to use, it has many drawbacks. The design is costly in that the shroud must first be formed around the packages, the tray must then be formed and then the shroud and packages placed within the tray. This procedure involves many steps and can be time consuming and expensive. Furthermore, this type of shipping container is not suitable for use with ordinary case packing equipment designed to pack individual packages with an ordinary one-piece, rectangular container or box. That is many consumer products are placed in shipping containers that are not convertible into display trays, but are ordinary one piece rectangular corrugated boxes. Many manufacturing plants have equipment installed that pack these ordinary one piece shipping containers such as one piece regular slotted case erector packers. Such packers are readily available in the market place including for example, a Sure-Way Packaging Machine model R200 or R201 caser having a Salwasser M41 opener, available from Salwasser Manufacturing, Inc. Reedley, Calif. 93654. It would be desirable if the tray/shroud container could be preassembled, before being packed, so that it looks and functions as an ordinary one piece shipping container. Then the preassembled tray/shroud container could be packed on the existing case packing equipment installed at the plants, thereby eliminating the need to purchase new equipment which would increase costs. Moreover, for ease of storage, handling and shipping before being packed it is necessary to have the container be collapsible to a generally flat condition.
It is, therefore, an object of the present invention to provide a preassembled tray/shroud container which looks and functions like an ordinary one piece shipping container so that it can be packed with packaged goods on ordinary case packing equipment designed for one-piece containers.
It is another object of the present invention to provide such a container which will lie flat prior to being packed so that it can be stored, handled and shipped easily when empty.
It is yet another object of the present invention to provide such a container that can be opened or converted into a display container without the use of a knife or the like.
The aforementioned and other objects of the invention will become more apparent hereinafter.